Elastomeric Foam Systems for Novel Mechanical Properties and Soft
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ELASTOMERIC FOAM SYSTEMS FOR NOVEL MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND SOFT ROBOT PROPRIOCEPTION A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Ilse Mae Van Meerbeek December, 2018 © 2018 Ilse Mae Van Meerbeek ELASTOMERIC FOAM SYSTEMS FOR NOVEL MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND SOFT ROBOT PROPRIOCEPTION Ilse Mae Van Meerbeek, Ph.D. Cornell University 2018 Soft materials have enabled the fabrication of novel robots with interesting and complex capabilities. The same properties that have enabled these innovations—continuous deformation, elasticity, and low elastic moduli—are the same properties that make soft robotics challenging. Soft robots have limited load-bearing capabilities, making it difficult to use them when manipulation of heavy objects is needed, for example. The ability for soft robots to deform continuously makes it difficult to model and control them, as well as impart them with adequate proprioception. This dissertation presents work that attempts to address these two main challenges by increasing load-bearing ability and improving sensing. I present a composite material comprising an open-cell foam of silicone rubber infiltrated with a low melting-temperature metal. The composite has two stiffness regimes—a rigid regime at room temperature dominated by the solid metal, and an elastomeric regime at above the melting temperature of the metal, which is dictated by the silicone. I characterize the mechanical properties of the composite material and demonstrate its ability to hold different shapes, self-heal, and actuate using shape memory. In an advance for soft robotic sensing, I present a silicone foam embedded with optical fibers that can detect when it is being bent or twisted. I applied machine learning techniques to the diffuse reflected light exiting the optical fibers to detect deformation as well as predict the magnitude of that deformation. The best models predicted the angle of bend and twist with a mean absolute error of 0.06 degrees. However, the model accuracy decreases with time due to drift of the constitutive optical fiber light intensity values. I lastly present research that reduces model error due to sensor drift using data augmentation. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ilse was born in San Francisco, California, where she spent her childhood and adolescence, and where she attended The Hamlin School. After Hamlin, she attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. She spent her junior year abroad in Rennes, France on a study-abroad program called School Year Abroad. Ilse received her B.A. in Mathematics from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. While an undergraduate, she also took many courses in Physics and Computer Science and was an athlete on the rowing team. After college, Ilse lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she worked in web development and pursued her dreams of being an elite competitive rower. Ilse enrolled at Cornell University in 2013, completed her qualifying exam in January 2015, and received her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in August 2016. She has also taken advantage of the myriad activities Cornell has to offer and has learned a bit of rock-wall climbing, springboard diving, and has taken up cycling. iv DEDICATION To my mom, Madelyn Van Meerbeek, who taught me the value of asking “why?”, and to all the other women who have been mothers to me: Teryl, Trish, Julia, Rosemary, and Catherine. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my PhD advisor, Professor Rob Shepherd, for his technical guidance, his willingness for me to explore new topics, his investment in my success as a student while supporting my emotional wellbeing as a person, and for his belief in me. I also would like to thank my three committee members: I thank Professor Hadas Kress-Gazit for her technical guidance and for making me feel welcome at Cornell, Professor Meredith Silberstein for her help with mechanical testing and analysis, and Professor Guy Hoffman for his inspiration and technical guidance. I also thank my lab mates Bryan, Chris, Ben, Huichan, Kevin, Shuo, T.J., Lillia, James, Cameron, Patricia, Maura, Autumn, Ronald, Jose, Yaqi, Zheng, and Kaiyang for their support, encouragement, and friendship. I would like to thank Marcia Sawyer and Joe Rogan for their help with all things administrative, helping me navigate life as a graduate student. I also thank the professors whose inspiring, fun, and instructive courses I have taken while here at Cornell. Specifically, I would like to thank Andy Ruina, Kilian Weinberger, Chris De Sa, Guy Hoffman, Rob Shepherd, and Brian Kirby. I would also like to thank my closest friends, Alex, Stef, Claire, Caitlin, Disha, and Liz, for encouraging me, giving me advice, dropping everything and coming to visit me when I needed it most, and being amazing, talented women who inspire me every day. I would lastly like to thank my husband, Jon, for his love and support. As a fellow graduate student in Mechanical Engineering, he experienced every important step with me, encouraged me, and helped me understand and solve engineering questions throughout our time here. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ......................................................................................................... iv DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Soft Robotics Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Challenges in Soft Robotics .................................................................................................. 6 1.3 Dissertation Scope and Organization .................................................................................... 6 1.4 Related Work ........................................................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER 2: MORPHING METAL AND ELASTOMER BICONTINUOUS FOAMS FOR REVERSIBLE STIFFNESS, SHAPE MEMORY, AND SELF-HEALING SOFT MACHINES13 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 13 2.2 Materials and Methods ........................................................................................................ 14 2.3 Results ................................................................................................................................. 17 2.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 23 2.5 Supporting Information ....................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 3: SOFT OPTOELECTRONIC SENSORY FOAMS WITH PROPRIOCEPTION . 29 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 29 3.2 Materials and Methods ........................................................................................................ 32 3.3 Results ................................................................................................................................. 38 3.4 Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 4: COMPARING HYPERPARAMETER OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES FOR DATA AUGMENTATION TO FIX SENSOR DRIFT IN A SOFT ROBOTIC SENSOR......... 50 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 50 4.2 Related Work ...................................................................................................................... 51 4.3 Experiments ........................................................................................................................ 53 4.4 Results ................................................................................................................................. 55 4.5 Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 59 4.6 Future Work ........................................................................................................................ 62 4.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 62 vii CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................... 63 5.1 Summary of Contributions and Future Work ..................................................................... 63 APPENDIX A: POROELASTIC FOAMS FOR SIMPLE FABRICATION